Darren Randolph on the possibility that West Ham should be aiming for

New West Ham United goalkeeper Darren Randolph told West Ham TV why he feels the Europa League will be a brilliant experience for the club, suggesting the side should be aiming to win the competition.

The Hammers learned who their opponents would be in the qualifying round for the competition earlier this week, with FC Lusitans standing between the East Londoners and a place in the Europa League group stage.

If the club can qualify, Randolph holds no doubt over what it means for the Hammers as they go about looking for some success in Slaven Bilic’s first season in charge.

“I had a little taster at Motherwell for two seasons in the Europa League and I thought it was brilliant; getting to travel and play against different teams and getting those experiences,” he told WHTV.

“It’s brilliant and it’s just brilliant to be here with West Ham – The Champions League is definitely a possibility and something that we should look towards.”

Europa League worries

There are reasons to be cautious for West Ham in relation to the Europa League such as the extensive travelling and the short turnaround time between matches.

However, Randolph doesn’t seem to feel that will be a problem, with the travelling something the club should be looking forward to rather than fearing.

The worry with travelling is the fatigue which is created as a result and Bilic needs to work hard over the summer to increase the size of his squad to cope with the higher volume of matches.

Lewis Doe

Lewis Doe is a freelance writer and editor who seeks to bring you the biggest, smallest and most interesting stories from the football world. Lewis has previously written for some of the biggest football news and opinion sites in the world including FootballFanCast and Goal.com International. Lewis is also experienced writing in the betting industry and aims to deliver his stories with up to date factual and statistical information. He hopes to sum up stories for the site and provide an angle on the issue moving forward.Lewis is HITC Sport's La Liga correspondent.